17 February 2006

machines pt. 2

machines pt. 2 (4:12 10.4mb/MPG4 movie)

In machines pt. 2, Victor Feakins participates in a strange test before being offered a job he can't refuse.

This part restores a short scene missing from the versions that screened at the festivals, and also rearranges the story slightly. The idea for the job test came from the strange computer tests that a person might take at a job placement office. The original concept was to see the little targets Victor was shooting at, but it seemed to work fine as it was and got the point across. I think.

More shout outs to 'forbes-design', for crazy digital imaging and special effects.

This version of 'machines' is an experimental edit that breaks 'machines' into three separate episodes, with a slight alteration to the original story content. The film was always a little experimental, and has a strange narrative flow so altering it more isn't out of character for the piece.

Part 3 will be coming down the pipe, along with a message from our new sponsor SUPERCALIFORNIA PANTS.

10 February 2006

Safety Folder Pt. 1

Safety Folder pt. 1 (7:05 53.3mb/QuickTime movie)

This is a documentary short about the latest creation from Seattle inventor Barney Rambach, The Safety Folder. The filmmakers learned about his friends, his inventions, Dungeons and Dragons, vests and the Art of Dah-Kin-Do.

The film was produced in 2000 by Delicious 62 and Mighty Hank.Com. The filmmakers were ill-prepared for what they discovered in the process of making the documentary, and often apologize for the results to people at parties who have seen the film.

This version of Safety Folder is based on material from the extant 'Safety Folder: Special Edition DVD.' Additional footage has been shamefully--er, expertly--added to pad out--er, extend--the narrative to ... um ... make it longer ... and more ... episodic.

The idea for the short came from a bad dream about what happened to dot com employees in the halycon days of the Internet, when people could get a bazillion dollars for a business centered on delivering a roll of Certs to people. This was back when young people were sleeping under their desks, working 100 hours a week in the hopes of getting in on a bazillion dollar IPO.

Those friends all worked hard on this strange little film, from acting, to holding microphones, arranging lights, moving equipment to location shoots, to wearing robot costumes that were more than a little inspired by Woody Allen's 'Sleeper'. Once again, another shout out goes to 'forbes-design', this time for crazy digital special effects.

This version of 'machines' is an experimental edit that breaks 'machines' into three separate episodes, with a slight alteration to the original story content. The film was always a little experimental, and has a strange narrative flow so altering it more isn't out of character for the piece.

30 January 2006

?1950: The Day of Doom is Coming Episode 12

?1950: The Day of Doom is Coming Episode 1 (2:07 12.6mb/QuickTime movie)

In today's world, life sometimes moves so fast that we don't have time to watch an entire hour of television. Wouldn't it be great if you could catch up on a TV show without actually having to watch it? Now you can, thanks to the revolutionary Digital Video Program '?1950: The Day of Doom is Coming!' Each episode of ?1950 features clips from the previous episode, the show opening credits, and then a quick trailer of what'll be on next week's show! Imagine all the time you'll save when you get your entertainment without all that pesky time-wasting content in the way. Watch '?1950: The Day of Doom is Coming!' only on the Internet!

This was originally an experimental editing project for the StockStock Film Festival in Seattle, Washington. The festival promoters gave some filmmakers an hour of stock footage and said, "come up with a short film that's a couple of minutes long." This was the result.

FYI: That neat 'MightyHank.Com' logo is by 'Forbes-Design.' You can find them on the web at http://www.forbes-design.com.

26 January 2006

Man's Best Friend

Man's Best Friend (3:33 21.4mb/QuickTime movie)

Long before the days of eBay, Myspace, and You're The Man Now Dog, before Paris Hilton trademarked, "that's hot," and Eminem was still rapping in basements, around the time of Yahoo but before Google, some friends made little movies in college using videotape, school equipment, beer and free time. One of these collaborations was the short Man's Best Friend. The director of this short makes a brief cameo appearance, and is both fat AND a terrible actor.

Man's Best Friend was written with the premise, "what if a car was a dog?" The car doesn't exhibit much dog-like behavior, though. We thought about chasing cars with the car during the shoot, but in a sleepy town like Bellingham, WA (where the short was shot) that's not a good idea. Actually, it's probably never a good idea to randomly chase people with a car.

The newest bit of digital media on this is the soundtrack, which was made in the middle of the night much to the misfortune of the downstairs neighbor, who probably wanted to sleep while drum noises were being made.

25 January 2006

Cough Cough Cough

Cough Cough Cough (0:56 QuickTime movie)

This a short video called 'Cough Cough Cough' that was made many years ago. It was an experiment in bad lighting. The biggest problem here is that the punchline of the movie is impossible to see. The main reason it's here is because the great Jeff Doty was in it, and the thing he said at the end is funny.